The Presidency is sincere in its dealings with Nigerians, President Muhammadu Buhari’s spokesman Femi Adesina said yesterday.
Speaking as a guest at the 2018 World Communication Day, organised by the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Adesina also pleaded with the media to be to patriotic in publishing stories that would not plunge the country into chaos.
Adesina said: I charge Nigerian journalists to realise that it is our country and it is the only one we have.
“If we publish things that will turn the country upside down, then we don’t have any other.”
On hate speech he said: “When it comes to hate speech, the onus is on every Nigerian to check himself. Some people originate hate speeches and some people transmit them without verification which can destroy our country.
“With this government, truth cannot be killed, bent or sacrificed for anything”
In his homily, Social Communications Director, Fr Patrick Alumuku, advised the government not to use the rhetorics of hate speech to gag the press, stating that the country had reached a democratic stage of media freedom.
Alumuku, however, cautioned the media not to use its freedom for practice what he called “yellow journalism.”
He explained that “the Catholic Church has always supported any government in power until when it sees that the government is not paying attention to the needs of the people.”